Thursday 9th June is ‘What Matters to You Day. In 2012, the concept of asking patients what matters to them in addition to what is the matter with them was born. This question has helped drive healthcare services to focus on what is important to patients.

‘It matters to me that our service users feel heard, understood, safe and valued. That they get the most appropriate care and would want to call our service again if needed.

As a manager it matters to me that my staff feel supported, appreciated, and know that they can approach me about anything without judgement.’ – Victoria, Senior Clinical Advisor

‘Patient care matters to me, I want patients to be happy after using our service knowing that they have received the best care possible and are happy with the outcome. Engaging with our patients is important to me, I believe we need feedback from all our patients so we can continually improve our services’ - Natalie, Quality Improvement Patient Experience and Engagement and Health Advisor

It’s important to IC24 that we need to work with patients to understand what matters to them and ensure we focus on the issues that affect the quality of care they receive. Earlier in the year, we launched our patient engagement forums to provide a direct communication channel between our patients and our teams. Connecting with our patients makes it easier to understand how we can improve the care we provide. We asked our patient representatives what matters to them, and here's what they had to say:

Della provided this simple, yet effective message, 'Treat people the way you want to be treated. Talk to people the way you want to be talked to. Respect is earned, not given.’

Whilst Lyn and John provided a list of what matters to them when receiving care 'A simple question which doesn’t always have a simple answer.

• Telling my story once
• Being listened to and heard
• Reassurance
• Empathy
• Not being talked down to
• Good outcomes
• Access
• Not being ignored
• Being seeing as part of the solution not part of the problem.

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IC24 places importance and value on not only listening to but also working in partnership with our patients to deliver care. We would love to hear What Matters To You, share your messages with us on social media. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.